As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
